Tuesday, January 31, 2012

European Bank's Shipping Loans Larger than Their Greece Exposure (and the loans are going bad)

I owe someone a hat tip but don't know where it came from. If it was yours, drop us a line and we'll link.
From the Wall Street Examiner:
,,,When commodities came back in late 2009-2011, shipping construction surged forward unchecked. Now with China rolling over, the shipping that was produced during this period is increasingly lined up and stacked in Asian harbors around the world.  22.7% of the existing fleet, is due for delivery this year.  Shipping rates have collapsed, another event which the markets continue to largely ignore.


I have been feeling for some time that this would bite the players involved. Although the shipping company stocks have become very depressed of late, the story as it relates to shipping lenders  has been relatively overlooked. Now the IHT is out quoting industry observers stating that European banks may be facing writedowns on these loans on the order of $100 billion, which is even more than their Greek losses....MORE
Here's a headline from 24/7 Wall Street, Nov. 18, 2011:
Another Shipping Bankruptcy Filing Could Signal More on the Way (GMR, ONAVQ, TNK, OSG, NAT, FRO, NM, DRYS)